Scientists typically avoid "making waves" and often have difficulty formulating important messages for consumption by the general public. Activism in taking a position that involves any attempts to inform the public about something that affects them falls outside the academic discipline of science and veers into social science. Scientists belong to an intellectual elite but should they remain sequestered in an inner sanctum that precludes notifying the public and providing it with scientific facts that affect their lives?
The failure of researchers to link evidence to policy and practice produces evidence that no one uses, impedes innovation, and leads to mediocre or even detrimental policies. To help improve the definition, design, and implementation of policy research, researchers should adopt a strategic outcome-oriented approach.
With particular reference to development aid, but with implications for and applications in research elsewhere, Article Enriching Policy with Research
explores ways to bridge research and policy and—toward this—underscores the need to groom policy entrepreneurs. (The article showcases the work of the Overseas Development Institute in particular.)See also:
Article Linking Research to Practice
Article Posting Research Online
Science is never simple. Explain to a group of people who are simpler, and the message of what you want to convey gets lost, misinterpreted, misused, misunderstood, and, worst of all, weaponized with academic authority against other groups of people. I'm not arguing against activism, however, be wary of how your own political preferences may cloud analysis of raw data (introducing bias in your conclusions). This is a danger we all face if we want our produced knowledge to be actionable and change people's lives for the better (one can even argue further on what is better).
Simple example: how many genders are there?
The failure of researchers to link evidence to policy and practice produces evidence that no one uses, impedes innovation, and leads to mediocre or even detrimental policies. To help improve the definition, design, and implementation of policy research, researchers should adopt a strategic outcome-oriented approach.
With particular reference to development aid, but with implications for and applications in research elsewhere, Article Enriching Policy with Research
explores ways to bridge research and policy and—toward this—underscores the need to groom policy entrepreneurs. (The article showcases the work of the Overseas Development Institute in particular.)See also:
Article Linking Research to Practice
Article Posting Research Online
I think scientists should report the data, analysis and conclusions as they see it without bias and provide various possibilities as to how the conclusions may result in policies and leave it at that. It would be up to the policy implementer, if they wish, to take that into consideration.
Of course not. Science has always been political. As long as the researcher is ethic and responsible, there is no reason to sustain such speech. The mere choice of your object of study is already a political action.
According to an article in today's Physics World, climate scientists predict that we will be experiencing worldwide drought due to the 1 degree C. rise in global warming each year. Specifically, this means that, already nobody has been paying attention to climate scientists and others who are sounding the alarm that human society is going to pay a price for maintaining lifestyles like frequently flying on commercial jetliners and aiming for three-car per family car ownership and other fossil fuel burning activities. Thus, there will be a worldwide drought that will result in a 50% decline in wheat production worldwide. We will not be able to continue eating 4 to 6 slices of bread as recommended by USA nutritionists, but, at best, be reduced to eating only 2 to 3 slices of bread per day. Since I eat the prescribed amount of bread (I am allergic to rice), and I have always managed to live and work within walking distance, only infrequently using public transportation, and I take scientists' discoveries very seriously, I post the following link for the Physics World article:
https://physicsworld.com/a/drought-may-hit-half-worlds-wheat-at-once/
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